The Bhopal Verdict

Now that the first verdict on the Bhopal tragedy is finally out, there is a lot of noise in the Indian media, especially television channels about Americans corporations treating us like a third-world country and not giving importance to safety measures for their plants in India. Some of the discussions also seem to carry racial overtones. However, how can India command respect from the US and other countries when we do not respect ourselves as a people? Why do we expect the US government to take the morally sound decision of allowing further prosecution against Warren Anderson and others declared absconding, when our own countrymen are not interested in ensuring justice?

Agreed Union Carbide and its American executives are to blame for deliberately compromising on plant safety. But it is because of the Indian judiciary’s incompetence that we failed to prosecute those responsible. Blaming the corporates will merely remain a way to vent out our sense of self-pity if the country does not learn any lessons to avoid such a catastrophe in the future.

The Bhopal gas tragedy was by far the worst industrial disaster ever. More than 20,000 people died and we took 26 years to hand out 2 years in prison for those convicted, who are already out on bail. It is a shameful and cruel joke on the victims. Imagine the anxeity and fear of congenital disorder everytime a child is born in the affected area, even today.

A growing economy and prosperous middle-class does not make a country a superpower. We are a nation of indifferent bourgeoisie, political goons, misguided socialists and whining gandhians.